I hadn’t realized I was staring at Rush until he began shaking his hips provocatively, smirking as he placed his hands behind his head and danced. I snorted and covered my mouth, motioning for him to stop. He gave me two more hip thrusts and then turned back to our Warriors.
“Do you think it’ll be like that between Casey and me?” Emily asked wistfully.
“No,” I said, trying to make my smile go down. “It’ll be special. Every mated couple is different, you’ll have your own jokes and romance and hardships, everyone does.”
“Yeah, but we’re so awkward around each other.”
“It’s only been a day.” I tapped her foot with mine. “Give it time.”
“Do you think we’ll get time, though?” I turned to her, confused. “I mean…what if something happens during the battle. I know it’s not the same thing, I’m human, but from what you’ve told me, mates are like husband and wife. I don’t want to only have five days with him.”
“Nothing will happen.” I unconsciously rubbed my stomach.
There was a crunching noise in the grass behind us; Emily and I turned quickly at the intrusion and saw Jahida slowly rolling her wheelchair up next to us.
“Hi,” she greeted, settling next to us.
“Emily, this is Jahida. I don’t know if you two have met before, but she is mated with Jonah; they’re stepping in for Beckett while he’s in the hospital.”
“I just came from visiting him,” Jahida murmured. “He looks good.”
After mentioning Beckett, the air grew tense. The subject of him was always taboo, no one wanted to talk about it, although it was all we ever thought about.
The training lasted another hour before our mates sorely limped over to us, wiping sweat from their foreheads and necks. Jonah shoved Casey roughly, and he flew a few feet toward Emily. She braced herself against her chair, but Casey skidded to a stop in front of her, shyly smiling an apology.
“Hi,” Rush greeted, bending down to kiss the top of my forehead. The small gesture warmed me, much more than the sun had in the past hours.
“Hi.” I reached up and glided my hand down his arm. “How are you?”
“Tired,” he chuckled, reaching his hand out for me to grab. He helped pull me to a standing position next to him.
“I can imagine. How are the Warriors and other fighters?” I asked the others.
Jonah shrugged, settling into the seat I was just in. “The Warriors are anxious. We all are.”
“The non-Warriors are too,” Casey added. “It’s unsettling not knowing when they’ll be here.”
Emily looked down at Casey’s words, fighting a group of tears that had surfaced. She had made the decision not to tell anyone who her family was. I knew she would eventually tell Casey, but there was no reason to tell him while tensions were so high.
“It’ll be over soon,” I tried to sate them.
Rush opened his mouth to speak, but a flustered Border Guard ran to us, sweat on her forehead.
“Alpha, Luna,” she panted. “We have an issue at the border.”
“What is it?” Rush asked, his grip around my waist tightened.
“There’s a human here, he’s begging to see Kenna. He doesn’t have any weapons, he’s alone, and…” she trailed off.
“What?”
“He’s marked,” she blurted, glancing between us. My blood felt like a chill inside of me. “It’s Kenna’s mark.”
“Excuse me.” Rush sidestepped the guard and began walking towards the house. I followed him, down the staircase, into the dark cells where Kenna was being kept. I was slower than Rush, a shorter stride and foreign weight holding me down.
When I entered the cells, Rush’s body blocked Kenna, but I could see his hand clenched around her throat.
“You marked a human?” he seethed. She gurgled some words and scratched at his hand. “How could you do this?”
“He’s her mate,” I mused sadly, resting against the wall. Her eyes begged me to help, but I crossed my arms and watched. I mind-linked the border guard and ordered her to bring the human to the cells in the packhouse.
After a few minutes, she and another guard brought the human in. He was sweaty and shaking, weak from being far from his mate. His head hung down, but he slowly lifted it. I pushed myself up off the wall, walking in front of him.
Rush watched me, never letting go of Kenna’s throat.
“You’re the one who kidnapped me,” I accused, watching his sad face scrunch in fear. Rush slammed Kenna’s body against the concrete, stunning her. “You’re Harrison’s nephew. What is your name?”
“Joel, ma’am,” he moaned.
“Don’t try to be respectful now.” I laughed. He whimpered a response. “Not so strong without the others, are you?”
“No,” he whispered.
“He has to die,” I said casually, looking to Rush.
Kenna struggled hard against his arms, kicking at the mention of her mate dying.
“Yes, he does,” Rush agreed.
“No,” Kenna choked out, pleading. “No, please.” She pushed Rush’s hand back enough to speak. “He’s all I have.”
“You could have had all of us!” I shouted. “You had a pack who loved you. Friends who cared about you, and you threw it all away for someone who is trying to eradicate our entire race.”
“I’m sorry,” she begged, kicking Rush’s legs. “It was wrong. I know you didn’t mean it! Please, I can be your friend again.”
“Why would I want that? When I have actual friends, Beckett, Emily, Jonah, Jahida, Casey. Hell, even Cordelia is a better friend than you.”
“Emily? The human girl? You think I don’t know who she is? Harrison’s own daughter is parading around here.”
Rush slammed her head against the wall. The Guards looked up at us.
“That doesn’t
